The 100,000-year-old lumps of dung which tell us all about the eating habits of the giant ground sloth (and look suspiciously fresh)

They look suspiciously fresh; but in fact these lumps of dung are around 100,000 years old.

They came from a giant ground sloth (Eremotherium rusconi), an ancient relative of modern tree sloths, armadillos and anteaters.

The grizzly bear-sized animals used foot-long claws to grasp tree limbs and scrape off bark for meals - as scientists know from studying their fossilised dung, or 'coprolites'.

Fresh enough: These lumps of giant ground sloth dung are around 100,000 years old and reveal that the animals ate tree bark

LIFE IN THE PLEISTOCENE EPOCH

The Pleistocene is the geological epoch which lasted from about 2.58million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the last ice age.

The modern continents were essentially at their present positions during the Pleistocene, the plates upon which they sit probably having moved no more than 100 km relative to each other since the beginning of the period.

The climate of the era was marked by repeated glacial cycles where glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places. It is estimated that, at maximum glacial extent, 30 per cent of the Earth's surface was covered by ice.

During this period marine and continental faunas were essentially modern although many animals, specifically, mammals were much larger than their modern relatives.

A major extinction event of large mammals (megafauna), which included mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats (like the one pictured above right), glyptodons, ground sloths, Irish elk, cave bears, and short-faced bears, began late in the Pleistocene and Neanderthals also became extinct during this period.

During the Pleistocene Epoch (2.58million years ago – 12,000 years ago) giant ground sloths lived over much of North and South America.

They stood 20ft (7m) tall on their hind legs to get food from trees, but were otherwise rather slow-moving quadrupeds.

Conditions are sometimes so dry their dung can be preserved for thousands of years with little deterioration or change.